Saturday, April 07, 2007

Mike and the Blue Men

My friend Chris and I took a little jaunt over to Peoria to see the Blue Man Group last week. We had seen them before a few years ago in Champaign and weren't disappointed. When I found out that they were going to be so close to home, I knew that there was absolutely no way that we could miss them on their "How to be a Megastar 2.0" tour.

Chris and I were both able to skip out of work early that day so we headed to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and then onto Inplay, a Dave & Buster-esque bar/arcade. After kicking Chris' ass at Skeeball, we proceeded onto the main event.

Our tickets for the show weren't the best, we were facing the stage right from a side view, but we were still able to see okay due to the large side screens, which seem to be the standard for concerts now, and we had another good view as the stage protruded out a bit.

The first time that we had seen them, the Blue Man Group was touring with Tracy Bonham as an opener and Venus Hum as a special guest. I thought that Ms. Bonham rocked, especially with her acoustic version of "Mother Mother", but this tour's opener, DJ Mike Relm, blew her away. Like most undiscovered talent, he's been around for a while playing the underground scene in the San Francisco area. I'm glad that he was able to snag such a popular tour so that he can be exposed to lots of new people who may not have been aware that he even existed, such as myself. The crowd reacted wildly to him and he spun and scratched in sync with some of the greatest movie clips ever. If you were present at the concert, I'm sure that you will never look at "Office Space" the same way again. Relm also mixed-up scenes from Woodstock, Fight Club, and even the Peanuts. Amazing. His high energy performance had me hooked. I've provided some a clip of some of his stuff for your enjoyment. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet DJ Mike Relm!

The Blue Man Group, as usual, was creative, fun, and humorous. They kept the crowd entertained by flashing facts, jokes, and shameless website/newsletter plugs across the screens for 15 minutes before the show started. Chris and I were a bit disappointed to see that they hadn't switched up the act from when we had seen them before. They again walked the audience through the essential rock concert traditions such as the one-handed fist pump, the head nod, and even the fake ending. They are champions at crowd-participation. This time around they're encouraging people to take pictures and the post them to their "How to be a Megastar" website. The back-up band was terrific, with three drummers and a few more guitarists. I've also posted below my favorite part of the show...nothing gets an audience going like an old familiar tune, in Blue Man Group fashion, of course. If you haven't had a chance to experience one of their shows, I encourage you to do so if they happen to roll through your area. If you've seen them in Vegas or in Chicago, expect something different this time around. This is a rock concert compared to a stage show. Enjoy!